Episode 768 - Mr. Scott Robertson
Mr. Scott Robertson is a Martial Arts practitioner, instructor, and musician who plays and teach drums.
When people see beginners come in, I guess they see part of themselves. The fact that everybody there wants everybody else to do well. That hit me. The people who’ve gotten their first blackbelt, also want everybody to reach that.
Mr. Scott Robertson - Episode 767
Starting martial arts later in life may not be ideal but not for Mr. Scott Robertson. Starting as a recreational martial artist, Mr. Scott Robertson regularly trained a few times a week at the age of 38. Eventually, Mr. Robertson became a Master Instructor at Pacific Coast Taekwondo (1988-2020).
In this episode, Mr. Scott Robertson shares his journey to martial arts, and how his experience teaching pipe band drum corps and martial arts came to be a good marriage. Listen to learn!
Show notes
You may check out Mr. Scott Robertson on his website http://scottrobertsonbands.com
Show Transcript
You can read the transcript below.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Hey, what's going on everybody? Thanks for coming by. This is whistlekick martial arts radio episode 768. My guest today is Mr. Scott Robertson. If you're new, you might not know my name or voice. I'm Jeremy Lesniak. I'm your host here for the show. I'm the founder of whistlekick, where everything we do is in support of traditional martial arts. Are you a traditional martial artist? Have you been to whistlekick.com lately, if not, I would encourage you to start there. It's our online home, everything from our store, to our other projects, all the things that we do as an organization are linked or available, right there. Now you can catch the link over to whistlekickmartialartsradio.com from there, or you can just go direct. That's where we put everything about our episodes. Because there's more than just the audio or the occasional video, we have show notes with transcripts, which are really easy to search through if you're trying to find a section of an episode. We also include photos and links, sometimes videos that the guests contribute or things that we referenced in an episode, whistlekick martial arts radio.com is the place to go for that you can sign up for our newsletter, while you're over there, and you could also throw us a couple of bucks as a tip if that's your way of showing that you value what we do.
All that we do is under the heading of connecting educating and entertaining traditional martial artists worldwide. And we do a lot of things to further that mission. And if you do see value in our mission, well, you could purchase something at whistlekick.com with the code, PODCAST15, throw us a tip via PayPal, you could buy a book, or join our Patreon, patreon.com/whistlekick, I want to thank everybody who contributes to the Patreon, you know who you are. I'm not going to name you. But when I look at the numbers, people rarely leave or reduce their contribution. It's the exact opposite people stick around forever and increase their contributions. Because we are all about value here. If you want to see all the things going on with our Patreon and why it's such a great value and why people stick around, go to patreon.com/whistlekick check it out. And if you consider yourself part of the whistlekick family, you should be checking out the family page whistlekick.com/family. We give you behind-the-scenes stuff, as well as all the ways you can help us in our mission, and the way you can be part of it. And well, it's free. Today's guest like most of our guests talks about taking their martial arts skills outside and taking the outside back into martial arts. Today's guest has something in common with Andrew as a drummer. And that's how we ended up with him for the show. This is someone that Andrew knows and I had a great time talking to Scott. We talked about starting martial arts a little bit later than most people do. And what that meant, as well as so many other things. So instead of me trying to sum it up here, I'll just leave you to the conversation. Scott, thanks for coming to the show.
Scott Robertson:
Thanks for having me through.
Jeremy Lesniak:
We appreciate having you here. We were chatting just a little bit about the audience and you don't get to see and hear everything as the audience. But one of the things, Scott that you mentioned, and it was in the bio you sent over. And so I want to start here because I suspect there's a good story was the age at which you started? Because you're kind of underscored it a little bit just in the way you presented it. So tell everybody when you started and why.
Scott Robertson:
Okay. Well, I started martial arts in 1996 at the age of 38 years old, which is later years ago, like to start? Yes, yes. And sorry. I'm just, I'm in my drum studio here.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's okay.
Scott Robertson:
In my snares are rattling and I'm just gonna,
Jeremy Lesniak:
I didn't even hear it, but that's okay. You know, Andrew is a drummer.
Scott Robertson:
While we were at a school called piping hot.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay, I thought that was the connection. Okay. So you know that just as an organization, we love drummers we kind of have to, so please continue.
Scott Robertson:
So it was so I was 38 years old, and I started taekwondo at a school. And while why, I mean, there's a myriad of reasons. I was partly encouraged by my wife because our nephews were going to this school, and got word that he had a daytime adult class. And so I was and nobody had ever accused me of being an athlete before this time. And, I was going to the gym but not really making a lot of progress. And so I went out to this club to try a day class, and I met some of the friendliest people you would ever want to come across. They made me feel very welcome. And so I started training there. And I've been to four different schools in my time. The lion's share of it was at a place called Pacific Coast Taekwondo run by Grandmaster Daniel Witt. And I stayed there from 2002 to 2020, when COVID hit, and the owner decided to retire at that point, rather than keep everything on hold for a couple of years. But he had run the school very successfully for well over well over 30 years. All the other schools that I went to lasted a few years and closed as most martial arts schools do,
Jeremy Lesniak:
It does happen. What was it you found? early on, right? Because people start things all the time. And you saw that I'm sure in the schools, you were at. People started, they came in, they tried it, but they didn't all stick around. And they certainly didn't stick around for decades. What was it you found in training that kept you?
Scott Robertson:
There were a few things that appealed to me. For one thing, as I said, I was more encouraged to go to the gym, get on the treadmill and do a few weights and stuff like that, because I wanted to be in better shape for class. Right. And so I was stretching more at home and doing some of the things that you need to do. So encouraged me, to keep working. But I have to say one of the things that appealed to me right off the bat, was the formalities. There was just something very appealing to me that there you're buying into a hierarchy. And this process, when you come into the school, you salute the flag, you say hello to the instructor, there's a hierarchy of ranks, there are people that you're on a first name basis with instructors, or Mr. or Ms. Anybody fourth down or higher is master.
And there was something about the formalities of that that really appealed to me. It, I guess, we have so little of that now. In our jobs, not everybody's on a first-name basis, there was just something that really hit home with me on the formalities. And I just, frankly, like the physical results I was getting I was nervous about going in because it wasn't in great shape. But you start working out and you just do what you can to start with you slowly building yourself up. And I liked the results I was getting.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You said that you stopped in and the people were really friendly. What did that look like? Because I think a lot of people they think of hierarchy and formality as a is a barrier. Now, of course, I know as someone who's trained a long time because you were part of it, most of our audience knows that it doesn't have to be it can actually give people some space to feel comfortable. What was it about their friendliness that was or how I guess a better question? How did that friendliness show up?
Scott Robertson:
Well, I think it was the fact that people when they see beginners come in, I guess they partly see some of themselves and they go oh, yeah, I know how that feels to walk in the first day and not know anything. And it was the fact that everybody there wants everybody else to do well. That hit me. People who have gotten their first Dan and or their first black belt, want everybody to reach that. And they want to do everything they can to help you get there. And so that was what struck me. It was just it was that willingness of people to share the news even if they were only Greenbelt. They wanted you to get to Greenbelt. They want they wanted to share what got them there with me. And I just again, it really struck home with me and made me want to keep coming back.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You were nervous. In your first classes, we all were. I assume you were probably somewhat sold after that first class maybe not fully sold or where are you? Where was it that I only took one class?
Scott Robertson:
I was sold I just really liked it off the bat. I liked the workout. I just right off the right from the get-go. I liked it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And you said went with some encouragement from your wife? Do you remember the conversation that evening when you went home? I'm assuming you talked to her about it?
Scott Robertson:
Well, she just said to me that her nephews were in this taekwondo class, which I knew. And then she said, you know, he's got an adult daytime class. You've always said, you liked martial arts stuff. Watching martial arts and the movies and all that, why don't you just go give it a try? And that's what I did. That's what the conversation was, I wasn't sure.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And, how did it go from there?
Scott Robertson:
Well, for me, it was great. I mean like, everybody, I had my struggles. When you're starting, when you're approaching your 40th birthday, you have to be realistic about what you can do and who you can keep up with, but the first instructor I had, he just, he just ran a good adult class, he had us doing stuff that was all within our abilities, he was very encouraging. But again, the school, as many of them do starts to wane. And then I went to the next one. And many of the people, the adults from that school, we kind of went on mass to the next school that was willing to run a day class for adults. And the instructors were just very encouraging. And adults, students, as with my adults, drum students tend to be very hard on themselves. And they were just very good at saying, relax, you're going to do fine. Just you need to do this 1000 times. It's not going to come overnight.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You talked a little bit about the changes that happened. And a lot of these are changes that we might expect. But anytime you have a change that takes some time to surface, it sneaks up on us Oh, what did you have any moments like that? Oh, clothes fitting differently or playing, with younger kids and going, Oh, I'm keeping up with them better? Was it? Was there something like that that made you connect the dots and say, this really is working?
Scott Robertson:
Oh, yeah. Well, all of those things, yes, yes to all of those things. One of the things that during the training really encouraged me to do was keep my cardio going. And also when I'm running a group of kids around the Dojang, I can keep up with them and do as many laps as them. And as an instructor rather than sitting on the side and barking out what I want them to do, like, it was encouraging that I can still do the laps and that for quite some time. It's great. I think one of the things that that is probably a common story. There was with me, one of my most encouraging moments is when I got what was called a yellow stripe in taekwondo, your first step after a white belt is to get a yellow stripe on your belt. And that was really encouraging for me, you said, Hey, I've been at this long enough that I've got a mark for it, and then when you get your yellow belt, you really feel that you feel like you're going somewhere with this.
Jeremy Lesniak:
As adults, we don't have a lot of that recognition. It's something that we see in kids, they move up in grades and we celebrate their birthdays with big parties and martial arts or other activities that they have, we often denote that progress. But as adults, we don't frequently have that and it still feels good. We like to be able to recognize that we're getting better.
Scott Robertson:
Yeah, well, I think for me, when I started, the first people that I was really looking at were the yellow belts, because that's the first belt rank after white. And that seems to be your most immediate, achievable goal. You look at the blue belts and the red belts, and you think, oh, geez.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It's difficult to even imagine yourself there, isn't it?
Scott Robertson:
It really is. And when our instructor said to us in class one day says, I look at all you guys are all going to get the black belt. I had a little bit of rejection when he said that, you and but I think everybody has that at first, you're in a long line in your class. And the people who are the closest to you that are above you are the yellow belts, and you see that as an achievable goal. So getting your first yellow stripe and your first yellow belt, even as an adult, that's quite meaningful. It really gives you feedback. You've been at this long enough, you've learned to do stuff, and you've kept up with some people. And it felt great. And it makes you want to hang in there for the green one.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, Martial arts and traditional taekwondo have so many different elements to them. There's sparring and there are forms, and there's often breaking and self-defense basics. Did you find yourself gravitating to or away from any of those specific elements?
Scott Robertson:
Yes, so I really enjoyed doing forms. We would always use forms as a warm-up. So you would go in and do forms and just do them softly. And just you would just get a nice dynamic stretch working to get some fluid into your joints. And I would find even if I was going out outside to a trail for a run, if I just do a few forms first, I just feel a little bit better loosened up for the run. And so yes, I'd have to say one of my favorite parts was forms.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It often changes as people progress and learn new forms. But what was your first favorite form?
Scott Robertson:
Oh you know, I'm sorry, I don't have an answer to that.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's okay.
Scott Robertson:
I just liked doing them all. I really was taekwondo. There are a few different branches of Taekwondo. And the first taekwondo school I did with the first two schools I went to do what was called the IETF forms. And then when I went to Pacific Coast Taekwondo, we did the Kooky one forms, which is a different set. And when I went to a Kung Fu school, we did some Kung Fu forms. So I just enjoyed doing them all. I got a nice, rounded experience in a couple of different styles. In the kung fu school, those forms were obviously they were quite different. They were a charm. I guess I could just describe them as more circular. Lots of big circular motions and Taekwondo. Lots of, you know, rigid, straight lines.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Was it difficult going from the IETF to the Kooky one, or the WTF WT forms?
Scott Robertson:
No, there were just differences torn? Yeah. There were just a few that had a different way of going about it but yeah, it was there was a transition.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I've known a few people who've gone actually different directions on that exchange. And some of them, have that sort of approach. It's all the same. It's just a little different than others. You would think we were asking them to swap their feet literally and put their feet on a different leg. What else were you finding in your, I don't mean early in terms of the first couple of weeks, but when someone does something for decades, early in the first few years What else were you finding in your first few years of training, you were enjoying forms. Martial arts was certainly benefiting you and what else?
Scott Robertson:
Well, it really had an impact on the way that I do my job which
Jeremy Lesniak:
Say more about that.
Scott Robertson:
A good chunk of what I do for a living is teaching drum lessons. You can see I've got two drum sets besides my home studio, but I've taught a teach drum corps, as does Andrew. And it really affected the way I approached a lot of things in my job. So for teaching, when you come for drum lessons, there's just this ongoing process if we did that last week, this week, we're going to build on it a little bit but what was really missing, you know, was what we have in martial arts is why don't give belts but there shouldn't be recognition along the way. You've done this much work. You can you've accumulated this much skill, here's a certificate for this level. I didn't do that until like I did martial arts, so it really impacted me too. bring in that sort of level standard.
Jeremy Lesniak:
What was the result of that for the students who were teaching?
Scott Robertson:
Well, I think it just, it gave them some feedback between for them to share with their parents is, this is where we've been. And the next level, this is where we're going to be going with this. Martial arts, being a student in martial arts gave me a new, new well not to have her I'm trying to say this the right way, I'm sorry if I'm stumbling along.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's all right. Take your time.
Scott Robertson:
I'll just a perspective, a better perspective of the student's point of view. When you start to do things like teach drum lessons, you're in your own world, you're in something that you've been very dedicated to, and you've put a lot of time into your lot you're very passionate about. And, you have to remember what it's like to be a student to struggle with something that maybe seems very plain and very obvious to the teacher. And going into a Dojang, and training and just not getting the hang of something, and you have a very patient teacher trying to guide you through this frustration, you have to remember later that day, when you go to teach your lessons. Be patient with your students, they're struggling with some of these things that I may find very obvious. It's not obvious to them because it wasn't obvious to me today. And that sort of thing affected the way I approach.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I've long said that I think every martial arts instructor would benefit from being a student, at least periodically, to remember exactly what you're talking about this idea that thing. Remember, there are kids, some kids just plain can't stand up. Sometimes they just fall over for seemingly no reason to us. But, things are still kind of figuring out how they work in their body.
Scott Robertson:
I've had the conversation with my instructor, many times, it's odd how we have to work so hard to do that, which is a natural motion. It wouldn't be uncommon for a while. If you have a kid standing left foot forward, right, and you say, take one step forward for them to take that forward foot and sort of, just step forward to it. There's something about receiving verbal instructions and trying to process that verbal instruction into action. That's really quite challenging.
Jeremy Lesniak:
But we forget often that the brain isn't fully formed until sometime around 25, right? And you get someone who's 6,7.8 years old, they may have tremendous athletic ability, but it doesn't mean that that ability necessarily comes from instruction. They're just, they're running and jumping and doing things kind of instinctively. But now, run over there and jump on that and then spin here and do this. And it can be too much and they start by stopping and going, what do you want me to do?
Scott Robertson:
And then on the flip side, that there are kids that come in and they're just very athletic from day one, the pennies just dropped for them right away. And they do some amazing stuff. If you're instructing to deal with them all you got to do it patiently and encouragingly, and as I said, all that stuff fits into the way I teach drums and, conversely, when I started to become an instructor, it is in my pacific coast. A lot of the skills that I developed were teaching drum corps and teaching private drum lessons. I was able to bring it into the dojo.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Where were you in your journey when you started teaching?
Scott Robertson:
Well, I was at Pacific Coast taekwondo. I think. At the time I think I might have been second Dan when I started doing some classes and helping them in the school that I was at. Grandmaster wit had a process for the instructors first you became a prospect. Then you spent a little bit of time assisting as a tutor. Then you would become an assistant instructor and then an instructor. And, if you reach the fourth annual called Master Instructor.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Was this something you wanted to do or something you were told you were going to do?
Scott Robertson:
Oh, no, I wanted to I said, I found it quite common among martial artists that people in martial arts tend to want to share what they've learned with other people. Just seems to be a characteristic, people are usually anxious to do it. I certainly was. And but I had a lot of experience with drum corps, teaching, teaching, running drum corps, and teaching workshops, as a drum corps leader, to bring in front of a class, just different subject matter. But a lot of the dynamics are the same.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Let's take a little bit of a detour because I think it would help us understand you and these things that we're talking about, how did you get into drumming?
Scott Robertson:
Oh, well, I started in pipe bands just well, I'm not sure if Andrew started in pipe man. But I started at 10 years old. I joined a local pipe band called The white spot Pipe Band. White Spot was a chain of restaurants that sponsored the band at the time.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And was this of your own interest or parental encouragement?
Scott Robertson:
Both my parents asked me if I wanted to join the pipe band. And I had wanted to be a drummer since I was three years old. So I was just flipped at the opportunity. I just thought it was awesome. And I was in a marching Pipe Band for free. Well, I'm still involved with it to this very day as an instructor. But I played strictly pipe band until I was 20 years old, and I signed up for a jazz and commercial music program at a local college. And, it's slowly over the years, it became my career. And I do is just, especially from the pipe band and Drum Corps world, I just found a lot of parallels where I find that drum corps and, and martial arts are just a very good marriage.
Jeremy Lesniak:
There are. We certainly don't have a scientific selection process. We're not trying to conduct any studies here. But there are a few different hobbies, and career paths that tend to show up on the show quite often, we've had quite a few musicians and not professional musicians, as you and Andrew are, but a lot of people who appreciate music and play they do a little bit more than dabbled maybe they were in a band or something. The other one is for folks listening or yourself if you're interested. We've had a lot of folks on the show who have been involved in computer technology. And I see a lot of synergy between the two martial arts in it. There's a lot of problem-solving. Music and martial arts, there's a cadence and there's a timing, that if you can see it, the whole world seems to open up for you. Did you find that your background in music made any of the experiences perhaps with sparring or something easier?
Scott Robertson:
The main thing that was easier for me was when I started to help out instructing you actually you know that there were a couple of things that I was able to take from drumming, into my practice time. The other thing that you mentioned, one of the things we do as drummers are we do combinations of rights and fewer hands right? Right, left right, left right left, then you try right, left, left, right, right, left left, then you try right, left, right, right, left, right, left left, and you go through all these different permutations of these stickings, right? And so in when I started practicing blocks, I just went the horse riding stance in front of the mirror. And I thought okay, well, left hand down the block, right hand down the block, right, body block, body block, face block, face block, and started thinking well how many combinations can I do have that you know, down, Body, body block, high block on the left, high block body block low block on the right, to me kind of circle now doing reverse. Now go right, left, right, left, right left, just started thinking of what the drummer would call the George Lawrence stone stick control book. I started thinking well, how could I practice my blocks that way? And so that came in handy. But for them, but for the most part, most of what I was able to take from my drum world to martial arts was in coaching and teaching and helping out kids you
Jeremy Lesniak:
Sure, there was a moment just there where you're, you know, block block block. And I wanted to add the two punches for Q Dan One. One of the things that someone who's been training a long time will often say and it changes go from, this is something I do to people who use slightly different words. But it all means this is something that is part of me. Where were you along your path when you recognize this was no longer something you simply showed up to do? A few hours a week?
Scott Robertson:
I would definitely. well, boy, that's again, that's another tough one. I definitely felt that way when I was at Pacific Coast Taekwondo. And after my first Dan, because I see so many people. Well, so many people quit before they get to firsthand. Now fact, statistically, is probably about 95%. And then, well, I could actually back that up with records from the school. But it's, I would say 95%. People don't get it to the first Dan. And then there's a large chunk of people that would seem to stop. After firsthand, it's they've almost treated it like a finishing line.
Jeremy Lesniak:
We talk about that on this show quite a bit.
Scott Robertson:
And it's unfortunate, like, because we would describe it's like getting your driver's license and then deciding never to drive. I'm sure you've had this conversation many times, Is it really your first, and is it where you really start to learn what's going on?
Jeremy Lesniak:
In most schools? It's you've got a good handle on the basics at that point. And it's
Scott Robertson:
So I guess the answer to your question then is when did this be a little bit more than just something I do a couple of nights a week? I would say for me it was probably after my first Dan and when I realized I wanted to keep going you know want to treat this as a goal accomplished and take it home as a trophy and then never do it again. I just knew I was in it for the long haul after that.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right, you talked We talked a short time ago this wondering how you might ever progress you know that yellow stripe yellow belt was something you could perceive attaining and started to attain when you earned your first time because that's an experience that a good chunk of this audience has certainly not everybody or even close to everyone. But it's a profound experience in almost every case. You strike me as someone reflective so I'm wondering where they were in their inner conversations about what I didn't actually think I would be able to do and I just did this or anything like that.
Scott Robertson:
Very much so well first thing that happened was I was at my previous school I got what you would call a club Black Belt. But then I got my first Dan a year later at Pacific Coast Taekwondo the difference being that the first dance was registered in a building called the KookyOne in Seoul Korea. So it's a recognized Dan internationally. So yes, I had very much had that. That feeling. I was kind of reflecting back on my first lesson thinking that the yellow belts, I hope I get that far, the green belts, and so very much so reflective. For me, it hit me on a basis of now I need to live up to this. You know, when I go to class, again, I'm getting I know I'm being a little repetitive, but I didn't want it to be a finishing line. Okay, I've done this now. I've achieved attained a black belt. I was nervous, I'm just thinking, I've got to live up to this. I've got to go to class, go to class and, and do this, do this. It's justice.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And you kept going, I know from notes that I have, how far you progressed. But talk about that, that continued progress. And obviously, you did keep showing up and you did keep progressing and learning new things, and sharing and teaching, and all that, and talk about that experience. Talk about it, let me frame the conversation. Did you ever feel like you had it figured out?
Scott Robertson:
Never. Not once, I don't feel like that about drumming either. Just, I feel like I'm just a perpetual student. I never add absolutely never felt like I had it figured out. Every every week, there was just somewhere. I felt there was something that needed to be better. I was very privileged to be sometimes training with people who are just better martial artists, I and they were able to point it out and again, very good at sharing your information. And they pointed out things that I might have had now mostly right, but that little bit of difference that they suggested just made all the difference in the world. So no, never felt like I had it figured out. I was actually nervous about testing higher as things go, I think my instructor had a little bit more faith in me than than I had in myself.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It's usually the case.
Scott Robertson:
Yeah, I think it is, but what was happening is I was getting certain Dan was getting older. And it was the mid to late 40s, getting to be 50 years old. Mostly what I was doing was trying to bring things to the club. For example, I ran a black belt prep program for our students who were prepping for their first black belt test. We ran that annually for years. So on the Pacific coast, what had happened was, there was a single black belt test to yours, the last Saturday of May was called Black Belt day. And that's where you test for your black belt. And all the black belts in the school had to show up to it as well, they all had to do a demo and you had to. Well, the idea is you just honor your rank. So that again, you don't just get your rank and then get lazy, you have to do your black belt, a presentation, you have to do a break, you have to do all your forms you have to do, you know, you're kicking demonstrations and all that.
So I put together a program to help kids up for that first big test. I ran a micro tournament because we weren't school went up to tournaments or anything, we just ran to micro tournaments a year. And so we put together a manual for how to run it and got the kids to do everything we helped teach kids, how to referee how to judge why these things are important and how to be authoritative when you're refereeing as well as the sparring. And so I was just, I was trying to bring things to the club. And as that happened, you accumulate rank as you keep practicing and bringing things up. So that's more where the journey went. As I start, I ran a supplemental Saturday class, for all ages, we had some entire families come up with mom, dad, and the kids. It was great. So that's where my journey started to go as I was getting higher in rank,
Jeremy Lesniak:
I can hear the joy in your voice around you. I feel similarly to you that I have nothing figured out and I am a perpetual student. And not only satisfied with that, but quite proud of it because I know I keep learning. But it sounds like there was a point in there where even though you knew you didn't have any. I phrase it this way so it's my words. You didn't have anything figured out. You recognized on some level that you had enough figured out that you could start helping in these places where you recognize that some of the other students might be lacking and seems like you found that to be very rewarding.
Scott Robertson:
Well, I did especially in the black belt prep program. I mean, I just never got sick of seeing the look on the faces of these people getting their belts tied on. For the first time. We had, there was another school in about a four-hour drive out of Vancouver. I would call our sister school, and their instructor, Master Michael Smith. Both he and I were students of Grandmaster Wit, and we would go and visit his school on his black belt day. And between the two schools, their black belt days being to two weeks apart, I just never got tired of seeing the face of people, young and young adults and kids getting their first Black Belt tied around them. It's just not them. It was all their families. I mean, one of the things I would say at the end of the day, is all you guys look to the right a little bit. I want you to look at all those proud faces, your whole family just got a black belt. You know, it's like when your local town wins, a wins the championship, you don't say, you know, the team won, you say we won, right? We won the cup. The whole town feels it, right?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Absolutely.
Scott Robertson:
For your family. And always one of the best ways of seeing parents and their kids promoted on the same day. It doe get better than that.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It does. So let's talk about the kind of darkness there with your school closing. Not an easy experience. It's one that I mean, I've been through this both as an instructor and as a student. A lot of the people listening have been through it, it is heart-wrenching.
Scott Robertson:
What was that like? Well, just not happy. Not a happy day, not happy news, but perfectly understandable. When the restrictions were starting to come out, I know that some schools were trying to hold their classes on Zoom and online. And the owner of the school was of retirement age. And he just said if it's going to take two and a half years before we can, and it would have taken two and a half years. He just thought it was a good time to retire. And I suppose it would have come eventually. I mean, we're not going to be doing this in our 90s. So it just sped up.
Jeremy Lesniak:
No, some people are. I'll challenge you a little bit on that there. But some people do. Not everybody and some people do.
Scott Robertson:
I will stand corrected. I will stand corrected on that. But anyway, it was not good news, I have not found another place to go to, and I think it would be very hard for me to do especially in Taekwondo. The one thing that has really changed a lot for me in the 20-plus years is it a lot of it now seems very geared toward smaller and younger kids. There seem to be 20 years ago, there were a lot more young adults and a lot more adults in schools now it seems very geared to a lot of kids' classes. And it would just be hard for me to go in with no other adults there and being accustomed to I'm trying to say this the right way. Being accustomed to going into the school and being one of the instructors and to another school that it's at the same school.
It would just be hard to go in and be a student with a group of kids. I certainly wouldn't if I could find if I found a school or I should say this way if I find a school that is a good fit for an adult in the 60s that has a class I wouldn't care whether it was a different martial art that would be fine. But it gave us difficult news and it wasn't as we talked about already. It wasn't just something I did a couple of days a week and now the store is closed. It's a big part of who I was. And we'll move on.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Do you find yourself still doing your forms or as I do around my house? I'm trying doorframes and kicking plants.
Scott Robertson:
Not too much. But when I go for a run, I still go do through go, through my forms. I still find it a great way to warm up for anything like that.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Let me pose the question that I suspect there are dozens of people screaming, probably in their own heads at me right now. Would you consider opening your own school?
Scott Robertson:
I don't think so because I'm getting close to retirement age myself. I don't, I don't know. I don't know how far it would go. There are quite a few taekwondo schools in the immediate neighborhood. And no, I just don't think that's in the cards for me.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And as I do, I certainly hope that you do find,
Scott Robertson:
I had asked myself that question quite a few times.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I would be shocked if you had not. Obviously, someone with a passion and a penchant for teaching. There is, if you're not finding an adult program, that seems to make sense clearly. There's a gap in the market and a lot of times, we've certainly heard this on the show folks will maintain some ties with people that were part of the closed-up school and train periodically And I can see that for both the good and the bad, it's good because it's something but for a lot of folks, it can feel almost hollow. I know what I want I had it and to take less than that is sometimes much more difficult than nothing.
Scott Robertson:
I will say that Pacific Coast Taekwondo is a tough act to follow. The chief instructor and owner Grandmaster Daniel Wit was always there. In previous schools that I went to, the instructor was often not there. Sometimes the class was even being run by a blue belt or somebody with not really good skills. Grandmaster Wit was always there even if a younger student was running a class, he was still right within earshot in his office, and he was always run very well. I still like the fact that it was very old school in the protocols. And I know that a lot of schools now have loosened up on that a lot. I guess they don't want to be unfriendly or I'm not really sure. But it was just very old school in our protocols. And it was very, very well run, managed the all the instructors and that was very well managed, everybody was made sure that we're consistently doing everything, under the supervision of the head guy. That can be hard to find.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And I'll offer the same sort of advice that I give to a lot of people, it is usually in my experience easier to look for something quite different than what you are used to stylistically. Because it makes it easier to you're not able to make direct comparisons. Well, I know these forms, but we did them this way or, you know, right? I think you're nodding so I think you understand what I'm saying
Scott Robertson:
They're very much. It might be just best to just try something else.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Something completely new. And in fact, I've been fortunate enough to start over at a variety of schools over the years to put that white belt on again, which is one of the best feelings in the world because you get to stand in the back and nobody expects anything of you. it's phenomenal.
Scott Robertson:
Well, in my year in a kung fu kickboxing school, the instructor's name was [0:49:36 - 0:49:38] And I think I was already a second Dan in Taekwondo. We went there as well. Everybody starts, white belt here and you had to work your way up. And that's just how it was. And he was a big believer that how do I put it he just felt that If your rank is just rank. Some people come in and they're really good in a very short time and other people struggle for a long time and, and your rank doesn't necessarily mean that you're, you're better than a lower rank because somebody can come along, very good, very quick. One time he had a class where he had everybody put there, their belts in a box, and randomly pick out a belt and put it on for that class, you're still who you are.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You don't. When you take that belt off at the end of class, it doesn't change what you know.
If we reconnected in a few years, three years, five years, somewhere in that ballpark, and I asked you to give me an update on your life as it pertained to martial arts, what would you hope you were going to tell me?
Scott Robertson:
Well, being that I haven't been trained for a couple of years. What would stay with me? That's a good one. I would need time to think about it. But one of the things is I certainly liked the order of things in the old school, martial arts. And I would like that to stay with me. This has been said before, I'm probably supposed to know who said it first, but I don’t. Martial arts isn't about focusing on what you can't do. It's focusing on what you can do. And I would like that to stay with me that if you were to can't contact me in three years and say, you know what, in my martial arts life, this has stuck with me, I would hope it would be that focus on what you can do, be positive about what you can't do. Keep working on your weaknesses, make them better be realistic, about what you can achieve at your level of development. All those sorts of things. I would hope that that would stick with me in a sort of.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Likely a similar vain question. What advice might you give to the folks listening?
Scott Robertson:
If your way.
Jeremy Lesniak:
What would you tell the people listening?
Scott Robertson:
Well, if you're just starting in martial arts, or if you haven't started yet, and you're looking for a school, I would say find a good school with a well-organized program with a hands-on instructor and I would not be so concerned about what the martial art is, I would be concerned that the school is run well, whether it's karate or Kung Fu, Taekwondo. Go to a fight, find a good program with a good hands-on instructor. I would say to anybody that's live up to you same as I say, with drumming, live up to your own standards. Depending on what age you are, you've got to be realistic. A 14-year-old martial artist that's learning is not going to do what an 18-year-old can do. And that's just life, you know, but be good at what a 40-year-old can do.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I want to thank Scott for coming to the show. And I want to thank all of you for listening. I had a good time with this. I am continually reminded by our guests that martial arts don't stop. It doesn't end. It's something that we have available for our growth for our training for whatever reasons, you train forever. And I hope, we as an industry can get a little bit better about letting everyone know that martial arts are not only for children. Remember, if you like what we do, and you want to support our mission to connect, educate and entertain, you can join Patreon. You can pick up a book, you can schedule me to come in for a seminar. You can leave a review somewhere there are so many things that you can do. And for those of you who do them, a really appreciate you for those of you who maybe haven't done anything lately or ever. Please take a moment Think about why we work hard on this stuff and we got bills to pay a band. If you want to reach out to me directly, jeremy@whistle kick.com The whistlekick social media is at whistle kick everywhere you might imagine. That takes us to the end. So until next time, train hard smile. And have a great day.